Investment Risk Tolerance Score Calculator
Score your investment risk tolerance with a 7-question survey.
Get a personal risk score, recommended portfolio asset allocation, and stocks-vs-bonds split.
Investment Risk Tolerance
Risk tolerance is the level of investment volatility you can absorb without selling at a loss. Two components:
- Capacity: your financial ability to absorb losses (income, savings, time horizon)
- Willingness: your psychological ability to ride out drops without panic-selling
The lower of the two should drive allocation — high capacity but low willingness still loses you money if you sell at the bottom.
Standard risk tolerance bands:
| Score | Risk Profile | Stocks % | Bonds % | Cash % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-15 | Very conservative | 20-30% | 60-70% | 10% |
| 16-25 | Conservative | 40-50% | 45-55% | 5-10% |
| 26-35 | Moderate | 60-65% | 30-35% | 5% |
| 36-45 | Aggressive | 75-80% | 18-22% | 2-5% |
| 46-50 | Very aggressive | 90-100% | 0-10% | 0-5% |
Time-horizon driven adjustments:
| Years to Goal | Bond Allocation Cap |
|---|---|
| 1-2 years | 80-100% (mostly cash + short bonds) |
| 3-5 years | 50-70% bonds |
| 5-10 years | 30-50% bonds |
| 10-20 years | 20-40% bonds |
| 20+ years | 10-30% bonds |
Age-based shortcuts:
- “Age in bonds” rule: bond % = your age (e.g., 40 yrs old = 40% bonds)
- Modern shift: “Age minus 20 in bonds” (40 yrs old = 20% bonds, 80% stocks): accounts for longer life expectancies and inflation pressure
Equity sub-allocations (within stocks):
- Domestic large-cap: 50-60% of equity
- Domestic small/mid-cap: 10-20%
- International developed: 15-25%
- Emerging markets: 5-15%
- REITs / real estate: 5-10%
Bond sub-allocations:
- Core US aggregate: 50-70% of bonds
- TIPS (inflation-protected): 10-25%
- International bonds: 0-20%
- High-yield (junk): 0-15% (treats more like stocks)
- Cash / short Treasury: 5-15%
Rebalancing thresholds:
- Quarterly check, rebalance when any class drifts 5%+ from target
- Tax-advantaged accounts: rebalance freely
- Taxable: prefer rebalancing through new contributions to avoid capital gains
Common risk-tolerance mistakes:
- Setting allocation in a bull market (overestimating tolerance)
- Selling stocks during a 30%+ drop (capitulation)
- Treating Bitcoin / single stocks as “alternative”: they’re extreme equity, not diversifiers
- Ignoring sequence-of-returns risk near retirement (de-risk gradually 5-10 years before)
How we build and check this calculator
This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
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